Weekend closures on Loop 410 will slow traffic on Southwest Side

The Texas Department of Transportation is working on highway “flyovers” at Loop 410 and Texas 151. Southbound and then northbound lanes on the Loop will be closed this weekend between 151 and U.S. 90.

The Texas Department of Transportation is working on highway...

If you're planning some weekend driving along the busy commercial corridor of Loop 410 between U.S. 90 and Texas 151, you might want to prepare for some down time on the frontage roads.

All southbound lanes of 410 between Marbach and Valley Hi roads will be closed from 8 p.m. tonight until Saturday at 2 a.m., and then work crews will do the same to the northbound lanes until about 5 a.m. Monday.

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Southbound traffic will exit at U.S. 90 and re-enter the Loop before Valley Hi. Northbound “detouristas” will exit at U.S. 90, continue along the frontage road through the Marbach intersection and re-enter at the next available ramp.

Texas Department of Transportation spokesman Josh Donat said similar closures around the Marbach interchange will continue for the next three weekends.

The biggest inconvenience may be to those attending the Saxet Gun Show at the San Antonio Event Center off Loop 410 north of Marbach.

“I looked at the map, and there’s just not a good way to get there,” Donat said. “I would suggest those going to the show simply go through the closures and tough it out.”

The weekend closures caught some by surprise.

“Saturday is our biggest day,” said Cesar Mascorro, a salesman at the Titan manufactured homes sales center at 1910 SW Loop 410. “And if everyone is crowded into the frontage road they may just decide it's too busy.”

The construction that is causing the reconfiguration of Loop 410 traffic at Marbach is part of a $72.4 million project to build flyovers — “direct connectors” in highway engineering parlance — linking eastbound U.S. 90 to northbound Loop 410 and southbound Loop 410 to westbound U.S. 90.

The Marbach overpass bridge is being reconstructed and widened to accommodate lanes headed to and coming from two new direct connectors being built at the intersection of 410 and 90.

Work on the Marbach interchange began in January and should wrap up mid-2020. On average, about 130,000 vehicles travel Loop 410 between U.S. 90 and Texas 151 each day.